Tag: Romsdal

York Preview – Friday 15th May

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Dante day at York certainly went the way of the bookmakers with the only winning favourite being in the two-year-old maiden race. The victory of Golden Horn and continuing uncertainty about him being supplemented for Epsom has left the Derby picture as murky as ever.

The final day of the meeting features the Yorkshire Cup and that grand old servant, Brown Panther. He finally gained a well-deserved Group 1 victory in the Irish St Leger last season and was last seen winning the Dubai Gold Cup impressively. All ground seems to come alike to him these days and his stamina could see him home again on Friday.

Romsdal and Snow Sky are the young pretenders here and both were placed in classics last season. Romsdal won well enough at Kempton but I was disappointed with how easily he curled up at Newbury last time when challenged. He plugged on into third behind Arab Spring after making the running and I expect to see him ridden with more restraint this time. His Newbury defeat seems to have convinced connections that he would be better going down the Ascot Gold Cup route rather than looking at the top mile and a half races.

The opening two-year-old race looks wide open with several previous winners. Many of them won on the all-weather including New Road Side who made all to win easily at Southwell. That performance was more pleasing to the eye than the victories of either Delizia or Athas An Bhean and she gets the vote at around 6-1.

The second race on the card is a typical York handicap over a mile and a half. You can make a case for most of them but a couple of form lines suggest that Notarised could go well here for Mark Johnston. He was third at Hamilton last time out and finished seven lengths ahead of Esteaming. He meets that one on similar terms and is worth each-way support at around 12-1.

Top Tug and Ajman Bridge will be popular but don’t represent great value. Top Tug ran pretty flat at Newmarket first time out, although he will be better for this trip, while Ajman Bridge has not won since his second career start and yet has gone up over a stone in the weights.

Our final selection is Yasmeen in the 3.45 race. John Gosden’s filly looked very smart when winning on her debut at Newbury and the form has been boosted since. She can get the better of stable companion Sperry who won well at Ascot in the blue of Godolphin.

New Road Side 2.10 @6-1 BetVictor

Notarised 2.40 @12-1 Bet365

Brown Panther 3.15 @9-4 William Hill

Yasmeen 3.45 @5-2 William Hill

Newbury Saturday Preview

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Newbury stages a terrific card on Saturday with trials for the 1000 and 2000 Guineas. The Greenham looks every bit as good as in recent years in which it has been won by the likes of Frankel and Kingman. We have previewed the race separately and sided with Belardo as the value bet against Ivawood.

Richard Hannon could end the day with four classic trials winners in a week following the victories of Kool Kompany and Osaila. He saddles Tiggy Wiggy in the seven-furlong Fred Darling Stakes. She was so good over six furlongs as a two-year-old that there is a feeling that she will ultimately prove to be a sprinter. Many Lowther and Cheveley Park Stakes winners in the past have gone down that route and we will know a lot more after Saturday’s race.

Strictly on the form, she cannot really get beaten. She has over a stone in hand on her rivals and she should get seven furlongs, if not the mile.

The opening race on the card is a fascinating mile and a quarter handicap with a huge field including three unexposed horses. The pick of them could be John Gosden’s Mahsoob who won nicely at Kempton on the all-weather on his only start as a three-year-old. He has a very wide draw in nineteen so he will have to go around his field under Paul Hanagan. Others to note are Luca Cumani’s Lunasea and Andrew Balding’s Field Of Fame.

Romsdal should take another step towards the top middle-distance prizes in the John Porter Stakes at 1.45. He was placed in both the Derby and the St Leger last season and looked good on his comeback at Kempton. Windshear was less impressive on his seasonal debut while Arab Spring may just need the run to put him straight.

By far the most competitive race on the card is the Spring Cup at 3.25 but I am keen on the chances of Buckstay for Peter Chapple-Hyam. I fancied him each-way for the Lincoln but he missed the cut and ran in the Spring Mile instead. He nearly gained handsome consolation but was run down by the impressive Chatez in the closing stages.

That looked like an exceptional performance by the winner and Buckstay should go close here. He is up against Lincoln winner Gabrial who is up 6lbs and is drawn close by.

Mahsoob 1.15 @4-1 Bet365

Romsdal 1.45 @15-8 Bet365

Tiggy Wiggy 2.15 @Evens Totesport

Belardo 2.50 @6-1 Bet365

Buckstay 3.25 @8-1 Bet365

Epsom Derby Day Preview

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Oaks day proved to be extremely profitable despite Ihtimal failing to reach the frame in the big race. Taghrooda (5-1) more than covered our stakes on the Godolphin filly and we also scored with Thistle Bird (7-2), French Navy (13-2) and Abseil (5-2). I hope that some of you had them linked up in doubles and trebles!

It is going to be difficult to follow that on Derby day but we’ll do our best. At the time of writing, the going is something of a mystery. It was drying out to good to firm on Friday evening but the forecasts are for heavy thundery rain tomorrow so it’s pretty much anybody’s guess. The safest option is probably to keep the soft ground horses on your side.

William Haggas has his stable in great form and saddles two in the opener (just to complicate things!). Of the two, I prefer the filly Flippant who has twice battled back to win races that it would have been easier to lose. She was past and looked beaten at Haydock last autumn but refused to give and switched around the leaders to get back up and win. She displayed the same qualities in winning over a mile at Chepstow last time and I think the mile and a quarter will be right up her street.

Not many two-year-olds get completely shut off in the home straight and still get up to win on the bridle. Baitha Alga did exactly that at the May meeting and could present Frankie Dettori with a Derby day winner in the Woodcote Stakes. She was quickly away and did everything right at Chester so should handle the Epsom downhill run without any problems.

Cirrus Des Aigles looks a class above his rivals in the Coronation Cup and should prove a very popular winner. He has already beaten Treve this season and it’s hard to imagine any of his rivals doing that. There seems to be confidence behind Flintshire but he’ll need to improve to beat the eight-year-old.

I previewed the Derby earlier in the week and believe that the Chester Vase could prove to have been a decent trial. A (very) long time ago I watched Quest For Fame beat Belmez in the same race and they proved to be pretty useful. Having gone for Orchestra (each-way) it would be foolish not to have a small bet on Romsdal at 28-1 after Mr G won the Oaks today in such fine style. We still have our ante-post bet on Kingston Hill so hopefully on of them will sneak a place at least.

Flippant 1.35 Epsom at 8-1 Paddy Power

Baitha Alga 2.05 Epsom at 11-4 Coral, Stan James

Cirrus Des Aigles 2.40 Epsom at Evens 888Sport

Kingston Hill 4.00 Epsom 10-1*

Orchestra 4.00 Epsom 16-1*

Romsdal 4.00 Epsom 28-1 BetVictor

*Ante-post